notbob wrote:
On 2010-03-23, notbob wrote:

I've been looking at their catalog, an '09 hard copy and the '10,
.pdf. What's the Ameritron stuff? Is that their high-end line? I
see on their website they recently acquired Cushcraft Antennas. Is that
what Ameritron is, an acquisition?

Amertron, was a company that made amplifers. It was bought by MFJ and moved
to their headquarters, though it may have it's own manfacturing facility.

MFJ has tried to keep the product lines intact, even if there is some overlap.
They also bought Vectronics, the Hygain antenna line, and now Cushraft.

For example, Ameritron made accessories for their amplifiers such as
QSK switches and tuners, all high power only. Think of it as rounding
out their product line.

If you look back at Cushcraft they have been shrinking their line of
amateur products since they were bought out, I think in the 1990's.
The company that bought them is doing well selling commerical antennas,
and not as well selling amateur antennas. Now the line will be in the hands
of someone who believes in ham radio and is trying to make a living from it.

To me, it's a shame because with such a large, active and rich ham community
as the US has, it can not support the few manufacturers it has.

Geoff.
--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or
understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation.
i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found in the Wikipedia.

I have and use several MFJ products. Design is ok to good, quality
control is marginal. Think of them as kits assembled by trainees with
no supervision. Be prepared to fix the cold solder connections,
poorly drilled mounting holes, etc. Once you finish that, they work
well and if treated carefully last.


--
Alan
WA4SCA

In article ,
Alan WA4SCA wrote:

I have and use several MFJ products. Design is ok to good, quality
control is marginal. Think of them as kits assembled by trainees with
no supervision. Be prepared to fix the cold solder connections,
poorly drilled mounting holes, etc. Once you finish that, they work
well and if treated carefully last.

The "treated carefully" is good advice - understanding the limitations
of the equipment is critical (and not specific to MFJ products!).

There are a number of stories going around, concerning people who have
managed to damage MFJ antenna tuners - typically, by burning up the
inductor (sometimes melting the form on which it's wound). In each
case I've read, the tuner in question has been a "T" configuration
(the commonest). One of the gotchas of a "T" tuner is that it can
appear to "match" an extremely nasty load (e.g. a short circuit) down
to a low SWR, while what's actually happening is that you're
"matching" the tuner's own internal losses. You can end up with
nearly 100% of your transmitter output being dissipated in the coil...
and this tends to let the magic smoke out, after a couple of minutes.

The same problem exists with other "T" tuners - it's not specific to
MFJ - so understanding the limits and vulnerabilities of that type of
tuner is important to proper use.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Dave Platt wrote:
The "treated carefully" is good advice - understanding the limitations
of the equipment is critical (and not specific to MFJ products!).

There are a number of stories going around, concerning people who have
managed to damage MFJ antenna tuners - typically, by burning up the
inductor (sometimes melting the form on which it's wound). In each
case I've read, the tuner in question has been a "T" configuration
(the commonest). One of the gotchas of a "T" tuner is that it can
appear to "match" an extremely nasty load (e.g. a short circuit) down
to a low SWR, while what's actually happening is that you're
"matching" the tuner's own internal losses. You can end up with
nearly 100% of your transmitter output being dissipated in the coil...
and this tends to let the magic smoke out, after a couple of minutes.

The other problem is that they are rated with numbers people don't really
understand. When MFJ says it is a "300 Watt" tuner, that's maximum possible
rating.

Like VA (volt-amps) which is used for transformers, and UPS's, it's much
higher than what you would actually use it for. For low frequency ratings,
you derate by the square root of 2 over 2 (.707) but I expect that's only
good at 50Hz or 60Hz, at RF, it's close to one third.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge or
understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the situation.
i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found in the Wikipedia.

On Mar 23, 12:20*pm, notbob wrote:
I'm studying hard and planning a shack. *I hope to be on the air by
June. *So, is MFJ stuff any good? *

To put it more bluntly, is it moderately priced practical equipment or
just throw-away junk? *I'll settle for Chinese made --which I suspect
much of their stuff is-- if it's relatively decent in design/execution
and somewhat sturdy. *I can see how the antennas and like hardware
could be decent, but how about the stuff like tuners and other
meters and electronic equipment. *Thanks for any feedback.

nb

I have an MFJ-259 Analyzer. Had it since 2005, no problems, works
every time.
I also have an MFJ-989C 3KW VersaTuner V. Same deal, no issues
whatever since purchase in 2004.